» Posts Tagged ‘tuf’

The Ultimate Fighter 1 finalist “American Psycho” Stephan Bonnar’s (11-7) appeal to the Combat Sports Authority of New South Wales was denied, according to an MMA Junkie report.

Read More About Stephan Bonnar Loses UFC 110 Appeal Before Aussie Commission…

“The Ultimate Fighter” alum “JT Money” Jesse Taylor (8-2) will fight Dong Sik Yoon (2-6) at DREAM.10 in Saitama, north of Tokyo, 20 July, Taylor announced at his blog.

Taylor tapped Eric DaVila (14-9) in a rear naked choke at Shark Fight in Lubbock last May.

Yoon was TKO’d by Andrews Nakahara (2-0) at DREAM.6 in Saitama last September.

Perhaps Taylor’s most publicized win was against a rented limousine at the Palace Station Hotel in Las Vegas, which led to his dismissal from TUF’s seventh season and admission to Alcoholics Anonymous. Taylor has evidently remained sobor since.

“Rumble” Anthony Johnson (6-2), Junie Allen Browning (3-0), David Kaplan (2-2), and “The Experiment” Krzysztof Soszynski (17-8-1) all walked away with $25,000 bonuses after their fights Saturday night at The Ultimate Fighter 8 finale in Las Vegas.

Johnson earned “Knockout of the Night” with a head kick that dropped Kevin Burns (7-2) to the mat in the third round.

Browning and Kaplan’s two-round brawl was “Fight of the Night”, which Browning finished via armbar.
Soszynski won “Submission of the Night” with his second-round kimura on Shan Primm (3-1).

Efrain Escudero’s (7-0) wrestling was the difference in his unanimous decision victory over Phillipe Nover (4-1) to become season eight’s lightweight “Ultimate Fighter” during the live finale Saturday night in Las Vegas.

The bout started with both fighters kicking. Nover looped a big right hand at Efrain’s head, which he ducked for the takedown. Escudero postured up, but Nover kept him away with his legs and scrambled to his feet, eating a right punch on the way. Escudero got Nover’s back and transitioned to full mount. Escudero rained down heavy right fists into Nover’s face before getting back on top. Nover attempted a triangle choke but with one leg trapped under Escudero was unable to cinch it. Before the end of the round Escudero was able to take Nover down to the mat several more times.

In round two, Nover threw a leg kick, then tried punches, but Efrain got the single leg for the takedown. The fight alternated between stand-up and the ground, with Escudero dictating. They both threw knees as they clinched at the cage. Escudero’s right hand tagged Nover and he landed a few inside leg kicks. Escudero scored another single-leg takedown, but they soon stood back up. Nover charged at Escudero with a big kick to the body, but Escudero caught him and slammed him as the horn sounded.

Another takedown by Escudero began round three, but Nover worked hard to get out, elbowing his side hard. Back to stand-up, Nover connected with two stiff jabs. He threw a knee which Escudero caught and again was wrestled to the mat. Nover worked for the omoplata while elbowing at Escudero’s shoulder. He tried to muscle his left foot under Escudero’s chin but Escudero rolled out with half a minute left in the fight. Escudero’s windmilling legs kept Nover from getting close enough to set anything up before the round ended.

The judges awarded Escudero the unanimous decision victory with scores of 29-28 across the board.

“Rumble” Anthony Johnson (6-2) KO’d Kevin Burns (7-2) with a third-round head kick in a fairly evenly-matched rematch at the TUF 8 live finale Saturday night in Las Vegas.

Both fighters came out trading leg kicks. A body kick by Burns was answered by a body kick-jab combination by Johnson. Burns shot for the double-leg takedown and landed in Burns’s closed guard. Burns climbed his legs up Johnson’s back but Johnson stood out of it and threw a few punches into Burns’s midsection until he moved into side control. Burns’s legs moved up again, this time securing a triangle choke. Johnson was able to slide out, however, back into Burns’s full guard. Referee Mario Yamasaki stood them up. Johnson landed a left body kick and jab-straight. Burns was flipped onto his back when Johnson caught a kick, but Yamasaki allowed him to stand back up.

Johnson and Burns again opened the round trading kicks. Johnson shot for the single leg, but although Burns defended, he got the takedown. Burns worked a kimura with Johnson in his half guard, but Johnson slipped out, ending up in full guard. They spent the rest of the round in this position, throwing short strikes to the body, and Johnson landing a few elbows into the face. Burns attempted another triangle choke and an armbar, and ate a hammerfist for his efforts.

Round three began with strikes, and ended soon after when Burns was felled by a left head kick, out cold. Johnson’s revenge for his TKO loss in July via eye-poke was completed at 0:28 of round three.

Wilson Gouveia (12-5) tapped out Canadian middleweight “The Athlete” Jason MacDonald (19-11) with elbow strikes in round one at the season eight live finale of The Ultimate Fighter Saturday night in Las Vegas.

The Brazilian Gouveia came out with a leg kick. MacDonald followed a right-left punch combo with a single-leg takedown, but Gouveia refused to stay down. Trading strikes, Gouveia dropped MacDonald with a hard left jab, and immediately fell on him with hammerfists and elbows, splitting open MacDonald’s head.

Referee Josh Rosenthal stopped Gouveia’s assault of MacDonald at 2:18 of round one.

Junie Allen Browning (3-0) submitted David Kaplan (2-2) with an armbar in round two at the live finale of The Ultimate Fighter 8 in Las Vegas 13 December, showing his critics that he might indeed belong in the Octagon.

Browning opened with an inside left kick that hit Kaplan in the cup. After an immediate apology from Browning, Kaplan recovered and the fight continued. The lightweights stood and banged with Browning throwing the crisper, more accurate combinations. Browning landed punches and a flying knee, interspersing them with kicks – each strike looked like it hurt. Both fighters attempted submissions when the fight went to the mat after Browning slipped, Kaplan attempting leg locks and Browning twice tried for a rear naked choke, but neither was able to finish. They stood, and ended the round with knees from Kaplan and an elbow from Junie.

Kaplan started round two with looping punches. Junie went for the double-leg takedown and landed in Kaplan’s half guard. Browning passed into side control, and smoothly transitioned into an tight armbar. Kaplan was forced to tap at 1:32 of round two.

Fighters.com spoke this week with The Ultimate Fighter 8 finalist “The Filipino Assassin” Phillipe Nover (4-0) as he was preparing to fly out to Las Vegas, where he will fight Efrain Escudero (6-0) for the season eight lightweight crown Saturday 13 December.

Fighters.com:  I saw that you earned your black belt on Saturday, congratulations.

Phillipe Nover:  Thank you.  Yeah, I didn’t even really expect it.  I guess when you least expect things, sometimes they happen.  I trained Brazilian jiu-jitsu for about eight years now, and my teacher, Soca (Alexandre Freitas), gave me my brown belt a few years ago.  Soca had a promotion ceremony and he was like, “Be there, man!  You better be there,” and I’m like, “Okay, okay.”  I thought I’d probably get some stripes and then I got my belt instead.  It was a big, big deal for me.

Fighters.com:  How is your training going?

Phillipe Nover:  Really good.  I really trained specifically for Efrain’s style and what I remember him to be on the show and analyzing his fights.  I train about eight to twelve sessions a week.  I do mostly double days and I’ve been doing about twice a week of live training like sparring and stuff and my conditioning.  I feel really good.  My weight’s good, I feel more ready for this fight than any other fight.  You know, pretty much I had Efrain on my mind for the last five, six months.  I’ve never been so focused on one particular person.

Read More About TUF 8 Finalist Phillipe Nover: I don’t think Efrain’s going to last more than one round with me….

PAC-10 champion and NCAA Division 1 All-American wrestler “Darth” Ryan Bader (5-0) answered some questions this past weekend for Fighters.com about his participation in The Ultimate Fighter 8 and his upcoming bout versus BJJ world champion “Pezao” Vinicius Magalhaes (3-3).

The light heavyweights will vie for the title of “The Ultimate Fighter” at the live finale 13 December in Las Vegas.

Fighters.com’s top heavyweight contender “Minotauro” Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (31-4-1) and Frank Mir (11-3) served as coaches for the season.

Fighters.com:  Is the Ryan Bader we saw on The Ultimate Fighter the real Ryan Bader?  Do you feel you were portrayed accurately?

Ryan Bader:  Most definitely, I thought they did a great job portraying the fighters’ true personalities, at least, if the fighters were actually being themselves.  But I have no qualms whatsoever about how they portrayed me on the show.

Fighters.com:  Do you think any of the cast was misrepresented because of the editing?

Ryan Bader:  In the end I feel that everybody got their true personalities out.  Some things were over hyped.  Vinny [Magalhaes] really isn’t that much of a dick, and Eliot [Marshall (4-1)] is actually very respectful.  Junie [Allen Browning (2-0)] is a nut just as he was portrayed.

Read More About TUF 8 finalist Ryan Bader: My goal for the last eight months was to win ‘The Ultimate Fighter’….

TUF 8 lightweights Phillipe Nover (4-0) and Efrain Escudero (6-0) and light heavyweights “Darth” Ryan Bader (5-0) and “Pezao” Vinicius Magalhaes (3-3) secured a spot in the finals in Wednesday night’s episodes of the reality television series.

Following the broadcast the UFC announced the full lineup for the live finale of The Ultimate Fighter: Team Nogueira vs. Team Mir 13 December in Las Vegas.

Also on the card are a previously reported bout between middleweights “The Athlete” Jason MacDonald (19-10) and Wilson Gouveia (11-5), and a rematch between Kevin Burns (7-1) and “Rumble” Anthony Johnson (5-2).

Rounding out the main card is a lightweight match-up between TUF 8 competitors Junie Allen Browning (2-0) and David Kaplan (0-0).

Read More About Nover v Escudero, Bader v Magalhaes To Determine Season 8’s Ultimate Fighters…